Conservation Resources 



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THE CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 




OF THE 






il ,oIoni) Iptorical $orictfiJw 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 



FOR THE YEAR BEGINNING NOVEMBER 30, 1886, 



,BUR^W OF ETHNOLOGY, 



w- 



President. 



Prof. Simeon E. BalMtih, M.A.— 



Vice- President. 
Ex Gov. James E. English. 

Secretary. 
Hon. Thomas R. Trowbridge. 

Treasurer. 
Mr. Robert Peck, A.B. 



Curator. 
Georoe Sherman, j\I.A. 



Article 6. The Mayor of the City of New Haven, 
the President of Yale College, and the Town Clerk of 
New Haven, shall be ex-officio members of the Advisory 
Committee ; and the Aldermen of the City, and the 
Selectmen of the Town of New Haven, shall be ex- 
officio members of the Society. 

Article 7. The Society shall hold its meetings on 
the last Monday evening of each alternate month, and 
at such other times as the Directors may appoint. 

Article 8. The Collections made by the Society 
shall never be broken up by sale nor by division among 
its members, nor shall they ever be removed from New 
Haven ; nor shall any article be exchanged or disposed 
of except by the unanimous vote of the Directors, or by 
the consent of the donors. 

Article 9. The Constitution, with the exception of 
the eighth Article (which is of the nature of a contract), 
may be altered or amended by a two-third vote of the 
members present at any annual meeting ; provided, that 
notice of such amendment shall have been given at some 
meeting at least one month previous. 



BY-LAWS. 



MEMBERS AND OFFICERS. 

I. Life -members, wherever resident, and annual 
members residing within the limits of the ancient Col- 
ony, or the present County of New Haven, shall alone 
be entitled to vote in the meetings of the Society; and 
the term of all annual memberships shall expire with 
the Annual Meeting next after subscriptions are paid. 

II. Honorary members may be chosen by ballot at a 
regular meeting of the Society, at which not less than 
ten members are present, upon nomination of the Direc- 
tors ; provided, such nominations shall have been made 
at a previous regular meeting. They shall consist of 
persons residing out of the Colony and County of New 
Haven, who may be distinguished for important public 
service to the cause of historic investigation and general 
literature. 

Ill The President shall preside at all meetings of 
the Society and of the Directors ; shall call, by himself, 
or the Secretary, special meetings, when required by five 
members, and shall deliver or make provision for an 
address at the Annual Meeting. 

IV. The Secretary shall have custody of the files, 
records and seal of the Society, and shall keep an accu- 
rate journal of its proceedings, and also of the proceed- 
ings of the Directors. 

V. The 'first elected member of the Advisory Com- 
mittees shall conduct the correspondence of the Society. 



VI. The Treasurer shall receive all fees for member- 
ship, and all other moneys- due, and all donations or 
bequests of money made to the Society; shall pay upon 
the order of the President such accounts as may be 
approved by the Directors of the Society, and shall, at 
the Annual Meeting, render a minute statement of his 
receipts and disbursements, and of the property and 
debts of the Society, which statement shall be examined 
and audited by a Committee appointed at such meeting 
for that purpose. 

VII. The Directors may appoint a Librarian and 
Curator, who shall, under their supervision, arrange, 
protect and catalogue all books, pamphlets, manuscripts 
and other articles deposited in the rooms of the Society; 
and shall, before every Annual Meeting, make a full re- 
port to the Board of the condition of the library and 
collections. 

VII T. The Directors shall provide each year for the 
public reading of papers, or delivery of historical lec- 
tures, one in each of the months of December, January, 
February and March, next succeeding each Annual 
Meeting of the Society, and to which citizens generally 
shall be invited; and the Directors shall also, as far as 
practicable, announce at the commencement of each 
lecture season, the subjects of the papers or lectures, and 
the names of the authors and lecturers ; the manuscripts 
of which papers and lectures shall, with the consent of 
the authors, be owned and preserved by the Society. 

IX. Committees on the various departments of the 
action of the Society may be appointed by the Directors 
to report, as the Board from time to time may prescribe, 
and also an Executive Committee consisting of five 
Directors, of whom the Secretary shall be one, to whom 



the Directors may entrust such part of their executive 
duties as they may judge best. 

MEETINGS. 

X. The Directors shall meet on the last Monday 
evening of each alternate month, and at such other 
times as the President may specify; and five shall con- 
stitute a quorum. 

XT. Notice of the Annual Meeting of the Society 
shall be given in one or more public prints; and in all 
meetings duly called and notified, ten members shall be 
a quorum for the transaction of any business. 

XII. The order of proceedings at the meetings of 
the Society shall be as follows : 

1. To read the minutes of the preceding meeting. 

2. To report donations. 

3. To read letters received in correspondence. 

4. To attend to unfinished business. 

5. To receive written communications or lectures. 

6. To receive verbal communications. 

7. To transact miscellaneous business. 

DONATIONS AND DEPOSITS. 

XIII. All donations to the Secretary and deposits 
with the same, shall be entered in a book kept for that 
purpose, and reported to the next regular meeting of the 
Society, and proper written acknowledgments shall be 
made therefor. 

XIV. Any alteration of these By-Laws may be made 
at a regular meeting of the Society, such alterations 
having been proposed at a previous meetiug, or by the 
Directors. 



RULES RESPECTING THE LIBRARY. 

1. Books and pamphlets left with the Society on 
deposit, and those of special value, either on account of 
their price or their rarity, and to be designated by the 
Directors, shall not be allowed to be taken from the 
Rooms of the Society, except by vote of the Directors. 

2. Books not included in the above rule may be 
taken from the Rooms under the following regulations : 

(a.) The Curator may loan to any person bringing a 
written request from a Director, one or two volumes, to 
be retained not exceeding one month. 

(b.) The Curator shall take from the borrower a 
receipt specifying the name of the book, and the time 
for which it is loaned; and at the end of such time 
shall require the book to be returned. 



CHARTER. 



General Assembly or the State of Connecticut, ) 
May Session, 1863. J 

Upon the petition of Henry White and others, showing 
that they, with sundry other persons, have formed a 
Society called The New Haven Colony Historical 
Society, for the collection, preservation, and publica- 
tion of historical and genealogical matter relating to 
the early settlement and subsequent history, especially 
of New Haven and its vicinity, and incidentally of 
other portions of the United States, which object is 
deemed to be of public interest and utility; and pray- 
ing for an act of incorporation for these purposes: — 



Resolved by this Assembly, That Henry White, E. 
Edwards Beardsley, Leonard Bacon, Henry Bronson, 
William A. "Reynolds, Thomas R. Trowbridge, Samuel 
Punderson, Frederick Croswell, Horace Day, Elial T. 
Foote, Henry 0. Kingsley, Charles L. English, Elisha E. 
Cleveland, Charles R. Ingersoll, and their associates, the 
present members of said Society, and their successors, 
be, and they hereby are constituted, a body corporate 
by the name of " The New Haven Colony Historical 
Society," and by that name shall have perpetual succes- 
sion, shall be capable of suing and being sued, pleading 
and being impleaded, and also of purchasing, receiving, 
holding and conveying any estate, real or personal ; may 
have a common seal, and the same may change at pleas- 
ure ; may establish such rules and by-laws, not contrary 
to the charter or the laws of this State, as they may 
from time to time deem necessary or convenient, relating 
to the qualifications and admission of members, the 
times and places of meetings, the election of officers, 
and all other matters connected with the objects, mem- 
bership, and government, of said corporation : provided 
however, that said corporation shall not hold, at any one 
time, real estate, the annual income of which shall ex- 
ceed five thousand dollars. 

And be it further resolved, That the President of 
Yale College, the Mayor of the City of New Haven, and 
the Town Clerk of the Town of New Haven, shall be, 
ex-officio, members of said corporation. 

And be it further resolved, That said corporation shall 
meet once in each year for the election of a President, 
Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as may be 
designated, from time to time, by the rules and by-laws 
of said corporation : provided however, that in case of a 



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failure to hold an annual meeting, or elect its officers, 
said corporation shall not thereby be dissolved; but the 
officers of said corporation may and shall continue to 
exercise the powers and duties of their several offices, 
until others shall be duly appointed in their stead. 

And be it further resolved, That the first meeting of 
said corporation shall be held in the City Hall, in New- 
Haven, at such time as shall be designated by Horace 
Day, notice thereof being previously given in one or 
more newspapers printed in said New Haven : provided 
however, that this act shall be subject to be revoked or 
altered, at the pleasure of the General Assembly. 

Approved, June 17th, 1863. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 110 536 ft 



